NEW STRATEGIES PURSUED TO REDUCE
THE INCIDENCE OF SCHOOL VIOLENCE
By Sharon Dukes

Dr. Beverly Caffee Glenn

There is a major national program that is among those working diligently to reduce the incidence of violence and its consequences in public schools known as the Hamilton Fish Institute (HFI) on School and Community Violence, based in Washington, D.C.

An interview with the executive director of the Institute, Dr. Beverly Caffee Glenn, revealed more about the roots, operations and program successes.

According to Dr. Glenn the Hamilton Fish Institute (HFI) is a school violence prevention think tank that works throughout the nation in search of successful school violence prevention strategies.

Named in memory of Hamilton Fish, the late Congressman from New York and to honor his work in the area of juvenile justice, HFI was created by Congress in 1997. It is a not-for-profit, non-partisan center committed to "rigorously research, develop and test violence prevention strategies for schools and their communities".

It is part of the Institute for Education Policy Studies in The George Washington University's Graduate School of Education and Human Development, and is funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

HFI reaches out nationwide searching, researching and implementing possible solutions to address and reverse the violence that threatens school students. The Institute tests those ideas that demonstrate promise by implementing them in selected schools, and then integrates the strategies that show success and effectiveness into practical recommendations and models for other schools to follow.

"We try to support and find new leadership and to help put together strategic plans that work," says Dr. Glenn "[At HFI], we think and we do. We are a very hands-on institution in that we are enormously involved not only in research, but with schools and in the nation's communities."

Dr. Glenn is former director for human and civil rights at the National Education Association (NEA) where she supervised a safe schools project. Under her leadership, HFI is very involved and connected with communities around the country joining forces with union leaders, educators, judges, government agencies, and community organizations such as No Murder D.C., Inc., a nonprofit directed by David Bowers.

Though HFI's national offices are based in the nation's capital, satellite offices are based at universities and are assigned targeted projects. For example, HFI's program at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta focuses on initiatives to help young African American males, while the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee focuses on school counselors and police. Lessons from these programs are shared with others via journal articles and conference presentations.

At present, the Hamilton Fish Institute is gearing up for its next second annual conference in Philadelphia, PA, September 11-14, 2005. It is an intense annual event that allows HFI and others share what they have learned over the past and previous years about preventing school violence.

In 2004, HFI conference participants such as those from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Education (DOED), educators, teachers, healthcare practitioners, faith-based community leaders, police officers and young people convened in Washington, DC to experience presentations by nationally known experts such as Deborah Prothrow-Stith, M.D., Associate Dean for Faculty Development Department of Health Policy and Management at Harvard University who stressed continued need for research and action, intervention and prevention.

William Modzeleski, the Associate Deputy Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools and Robert D. Barr, Boise State University and a founder of alternative education research were also among those who spoke at the conference. Glenn Ivey, States' Attorney for Prince Georges County Maryland, was recognized by HFI for his efforts to keep our communities safe by making crime prevention programs more available and increasing access to intervention programs.

Each conference is an opportunity to review the latest research and assessments and to take a candid look at efforts that did not work and why. Dr. Glenn states that finding out what needs to be done and doing it now is mandatory considering what is happening in school communities and the reasons for the violence. "Our main objective is to share information on innovative programs and new data that could be helpful to school administrators, teachers and parents in creating persistently safe schools," added Glenn.

With juvenile justice issues looming large on judicial, educational, medical and social platforms, HFI's national conference proposes guidance and hope during a time when the depths of public concern and mistrust - combined with the fears and cynicism of young people is heightened even further by a violent culture.

"Persistently Safe Schools 2005" the National Conference of the Hamilton Fish Institute on School and Community Violence will be held at the Wyndham Hotel, Philadelphia, PA. September 11-14, 2005. For more information or to register call (202) 429-1700 or (877) 999-3223 toll free or register online at www.hamfish.org/conference.

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